World traveler and baseball connoisseur…follow me as I embark on an incredible journey around the Major Leagues. Twitter: @MLBwayneMLB

The last time I attended a playoff game was two years ago. I visited Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas and watched the Rangers/Yankees series. I really didn’t put up solid baseball snagging numbers due to the fact of the large capacity crowd and the players were a little stingy with toss-ups and not many home runs were being hit out during BP. The same thing sort of played out here at the Coliseum.

In fact, it wasn’t until the very end of batting practice when I was able to snag one baseball. I really didn’t think it was going to happen, either. Here’s a picture right before I got the baseball…

…all I did was asked if I could take a picture of him, and he happily obliged in a laughing manner. My real intent was to build some quick repoire and ask for a baseball. I’m pretty sure he saw right through me because before I could really ask, he underhanded me one with a wink. If anyone can identify him, I’d greatly appreciate it. I’d like to add him to my list on MyGameBalls.com.

So let me back up some..I’d like to explain how this trip actually came to be. Over the course of the summer, I was very limited to how many games I could actually attend because I was busy working two jobs. And a little more expansion on that; when I got out of the service two years ago, I got a job and started school. Well, school sort of didn’t work out for me, and my current job started cutting back hours. So I was sort of forced into getting a second job. Over the course of this summer, I worked nearly 70 hours a week. Which wasn’t fun or worth it. I had no life.

Anyway, so now that I’m only working one job now (and thinking about school again) I’m back to going to baseball games. Unfortunately, baseball season is just about over but fortunately, I was able to catch the ALDS in Oakland. In a nutshell, I was sitting at home watching the last game of the regular season, you know, the game the Rangers should’ve won? The one where the Athletics stole the AL West crown? Yeah, that one. When the A’s won the AL West, that changed everything for me. It would mean I’d be taking a trip to Oakland real soon. When I realized the A’s would be facing the Tigers on the 9th and the 10th of October, I immediately checked my work schedule.

I come to the Oakland Coliseum a lot. Mainly because it’s a fun place to catch baseballs. The stadium alone has a ton of history and it’s fun to be inside a place where my favorite baseball players as a kid used to play. Like Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Rickey Henderson, Dave Henderson, Dennis Eckersely, Rick Honeycutt and Tony La Russa. One thing I will not do is call this place the O-Dot Coliseum or the OCo-whatever stadium. In fact, do you want to see how I really feel about it?

Nick Badder’s father took that photo of me. Nick is a fellow ballhawk that routinely attends Athletics games at the Coliseum, himself. I finally met him today and he also runs a blog on MLB.com, too. It’s called 7000 Coliseum Way. Here we are hanging out prior to the gates opening:

Once the gates cracked open at 4:07, Nick and I parted ways and it was time to start snagging baseballs again for my charity; Snagging Baseballs for Puppies. I didn’t have high expectations for this game because a) it was a playoff game so I knew the players were going to be holding back on toss-ups and b) the Coliseum would be abnormally packed with fans.

The fun part of watching the ALDS against the Tigers, was watching Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder smack a couple of home runs during batting practice. The most unfortunate thing during BP was, the ushers didn’t allow anyone into the upper deck (mainly section 149 where I wanted to go) without a ticket for that section. It was kind of a heartbreaker because I’ve been trying to get into section 149 since the last time I visited the Coliseum.

I was hoping for a big win from the Athletics tonight because when I planned this trip, I bought tickets for a probable game four. If the Athletics won that game, too, it was fine., Even though I’d love to stick around and watch the A’s take the series. But deep down, since I’m such a big Tigers fan as well, I wanted Detroit to win and I expected them to.

In any case, it felt really good to be back inside a Major League baseball stadium with some of the best fans in baseball. And when I say “best fans in baseball” I truly mean that about the fans in the Coliseum. During some games there are as little as 6,000 fans watching the Athletics play. But those 6,000 fans are those most dedicated fans I’ve ever met in my life.

By the time batting practice had ended, I got some food and drinks, I got a couple of pictures of me clowning around the Coliseum, and settled in to watch the game. Here are a few pictures I was able to get before the game started:

Me with the my only ball snagged during BP…

…and the next couple of photos are with some signs the Athletics fan crew were handing out.

Oh, and I can’t forget to show off my “rally towel”:

Here’s me with my Reddick sign:

And of course, my Cespedes sign:

The game was electrifying, to say the least. The Athletics were playing an elimination game and were doing everything in their power to force a game four. I had horrible seats, though. Standing room only. Which, in the Coliseum, there isn’t much “standing room only” places to stand only. Everywhere I went, I was asked to show my ticket. And once I ended up on the main concourse, that was it. I wasn’t allowed to get back down on the first level to walk the concourse around the lower seating bowl unless I showed my ticket, which said “SRO” on it, so the security wouldn’t allow me to pass. It was very frustrating.

I pretty much had to watch the game from places like this:

It totally sucked. My tickets for game four were the same thing, SRO. Regardless, I had a blast. I absolutely love the Coliseum!

Brett Anderson outgunned Anibal Sanchez in a 2-0 win with Coco Crisp robbing Prince Fielder of a home run during the game. Yoenis Cespedes hit an RBI single in the first inning and Seth Smith homered later. That was plenty on a night Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera, Fielder and the Tigers’ high-priced offense were shut down by the low-budget A’s.

Game four would be played tomorrow and I’d be there!

I’m snagging baseballs for puppies again this season for the Seattle Humane Society! If you want to check out my charity information, just click here!

Last season, with the help of all of you, we were able to raise over $250 dollars! This year I’d like to break $300!

Total dollars raised for Snagging Baseballs for Puppies this season: $98.74

Total dollars raised for Snagging Baseballs for Puppies last season: $257.00

Total number of donors this season: 9

Total number of donors last season: 7

If you’d like to join my official Snagging Baseballs for Puppies Facebook page, just click here! And if you want to like Collection of Baseball on Facebook, click here! Interested in following me on Twitter? Click here!

I recently accepted the challenge to raise funds to support Seattle Humane Society. Please help support me in this important community resource by contributing generously. For information about Seattle Humane Society and its programs, you can visit http://shs.convio.net/site/PageServer.

It is faster and easier than ever to support this great cause by making your tax-deductible donation online using the link below. If you would prefer, you can send your contribution to the address listed below.

Whatever you can give will help – it all adds up! I greatly appreciate your support and will keep you posted on my progress.

For two years in a row now, I’ve created, managed, and recruited people for my charity; Snagging Baseball for Puppies. It takes an insane amount of time and work to keep a legitimate charity up and running. If you’ve read my most recent blog entry here, you’ll know my 2012 baseball season was cut short due to life not really working with me but alas, working against me. I put an insane amount of time and energy into two jobs thus working 60+ hours a week. It wasn’t fun and it wasn’t worth it. If I could, I’d give every red cent back to those places of employment to get my summer back. The only thing I can do now is to look forward and make better decisions concerning my livelihood and what’s important to me.

I’ve been using Crowdrise.com as my main donation page for the past two seasons. For the 2013 season, I will be using a better format and a page directly from the Seattle Humane Society. You can take a look at it here and leave me comments on how I can make it better or if you think this will be a better choice for my charity. Here, check it out! For those of you who have pledged a monetary amount towards Snagging Baseballs for Puppies, and as I have stated in my last blog entry, hang onto your change. Unless you are seriously wanting to donate, you can at Crowdrise.com. Be mindful that the minimum donation is $10. And since I only snagged 50 baseballs in roughly 25 games, your donation will actually be under that minimum $10 amount. Your second option is to just hang onto your money and I’ll tack it onto next years snagged baseballs.

So the plan is this; attend Mariners Fanfest this season and then I’m headed to Houston for their home opener! Last year I went to the Mariners fanfest and it was literally the most exciting fun I’ve done in a long time concerning baseball. Also, I posted a blog about a Mariners ticket giveaway. (This is in no way affiliated with Mariners baseball, it’s my own contest.) Well, since I never really followed through with that, I’m going to make up for it. (Yah, I’m a great guy, right?) Every new baseball stadium I visit, I’m going to purchase two “cheap-seat” tickets for you and a friend, leave them at will-call and we can catch up inside and shake hands, BS around, or whatever you’d like. You’ll have to win the contest (which is a simple baseball trivia game on Twitter) so make sure you follow me on there! And make sure you can attend that evenings game as well.

There’s more. I still have a ton of signed baseballs I’m looking to get rid of. It’s a simple $10 dollar donation to get one and all proceeds go to my charity. I can give them away in contest form or you can just email me at WaynePeck@yahoo.com and claim one when I get things up and running again. This is important to me, so don’t ask for one if you can’t donate. Okay? Thank you.

Anyway, I have a lot of work to do for next years season. I have to get into physical shape, I have to make sure my gear is good to go for snagging baseballs and I have to make sure my links, websites and everything else is up to par. Get the word out, folks! I may be coming to a stadium near you to snag some baseballs for puppies!

Hello, baseball friends! I wanted to get a blog entry out to everyone to kind of explain what has been going on concerning my absence from baseball this season. I feel I should explain some things. Basically, life got in the way of my plans and a lot of things have been suffering in conjunction of that. My last baseball game at Safeco Field was on May 25th, and I’m sorry I didn’t get to more games. I really tried but working two jobs, over 60-some hours a week, working grave yard shift at one, and limited hours at the other, really put a damper on things. My charity has suffered and I hope my friendship with people hasn’t

My plan was to hit up Safeco on October 1st and 2nd. I decided to call it the season and start fresh next year in Houston for the Astros home opener. Although, I will be trying to get to this years fanfest at Safeco, my new work schedule may not allow that. My new boss is pretty awesome and I think he will allow for schedule adjustments along the way. Now I work a steady 40 hours a week with limited over-time and things have finally been going my way. So I sincerely apologize to those that have been patiently awaiting my return to Safeco and baseball in general. If you’ve made a pledge to my charity, please hold onto your money. I only snagged 50 baseballs this year which isn’t much. But next year I plan to snag at least 100.

I love baseball and I love all of you that have supported my charity, read my blogs, and been a genuine friend. New friends and old, you have been missed and I thought about you a lot throughout the season. Speaking of blogs, I have started a new one that you may read and it may help clear up some things that I have been going through. It’s called Diary of a Vet. Mind you, it has offense language and probably some content you may or may not be comfortable with. But it helps me through my trials and tribulation through this even confusing life.

I’m back on Twitter as well. And I noticed I didn’t lose one follower while I was gone. Chuck Knoblauch still follows me, Zach Britton, the Oakland Athletics, the Seattle Mariners and all of my readers that are still there; I sincerely thank you. It’s comforting to see your loyalty. Really, it is.

Alright, now that everything is cleared up, let’s get onto some baseball stuff, shall we? Next season I plan to visit Minute Maid Park for their opening weekend with my good friend Jennifer. We met at Safeco Field and she’s been awesome. So give her a follow on Twitter when you get a chance. I’m really excited for this trip mainly because I had to bail on this seasons All-Star game which totally bummed me out. Next year I hope to make the ASG at CitiField. We shall see how that plays out, of course. I also plan to make it to Los Angeles to see the Dodgers play, I hope to make it back to Oakland and San Francisco and also San Diego. I’d like to make it to some stadiums I haven’t seen before but most of those stadiums are pretty far east. So again, we shall see.

I’m not going to get into my end of the year stats as far as baseballs snagged because like I stated before; life got in the way. But, Wayne is back and next year Snagging Baseballs for Puppies will play more of a priority in my life because it feels good to help the Seattle Humane Society! So again, hang onto your donations and I’ll see you at the ballpark next year!

I’m sure by now-if you’ve been keeping up with me on my blogs-you’d know that I’m a professional Ballhawk. Nearly six years ago, I snagged my first baseball at Kauffman Stadium with the help of an usher during my mid-tour leave from combat in Iraq. Since then, I’ve progressively snagged more and more baseballs each year.

Last week I was contacted by Meggie Zahneis, a youth reporter for Major League Baseball, and was invited to participate in an interview about Ballhawking. It was a lot of fun to answer some of the questions and sort of explain the idea behind Ballhawking.

The purpose behind this contest is just to make people smile. There are no gimmicks, behind the scene tricks, or anything shady like that. It’s very simple. On Twitter, @MLBwayneMLB, I’ll post a question regarding something about baseball and whoever answers correctly will win a single game ticket to that days Mariners game. I’ll ask that you either email me or DM me your first and last name so I can purchase the ticket and have it at will call ready for you to pick up. Sounds good? Okay, great! Lets move onto some ground rules, shall we?

Even though this is such a simple contest, answer and win type gig, we still need some rules to follow by, right? First of all, the ticket you will get will be a centerfield bleacher seat. And it’s just ONE ticket. Not a pair, or three or four. Just one, random ticket in centerfield. I think they run like, 10 bucks or something like that this season. If you’re not happy with the ticket, once you pick it up at will call, you can certainly upgrade. This is just me being a nice guy. I expect nothing in return. Well, maybe a thank you and a follow on Twitter. That would be pretty sweet. And make sure you retweet what I’m doing if you are on Twitter so other people can join in and try to win a free ticket.

Secondly, I hold the right to pick any winner I choose. This makes it fair for everyone. Some people are on Twitter more than others and if someone continues to win free tickets after another, I’ll step in and make sure others get a fair shot. I want a lot of people to win and enjoy some Mariner baseball. I think that’s reasonable. If you’re a season ticket holder and you already have tickets for today’s game and you want to try to win the free ticket anyway, make sure that whoever you’re winning the ticket for can actually attend the game. I don’t want the ticket to go to waste.

This contest is just for weekday games. Non-premium type. Monday through Thursday. I’d include weekend games but they usually charge more for those games. Plus giveaway games may or may not be included depending on the giveaway. Also, if you can’t attend the Mariner game or live out of town or something, try to resist answering the questions. This is just for people who are for sure going to the game that day. And again, your ticket will be left at will call with your name. If you’d like to just meet me at the gate prior to game time, that’s fine. I can bring your ticket with me but if you aren’t at the gate by 4:40pm, I’m going in without you.

My inspiration for doing this is because Cleveland Indians closer, Chris Perez decided to give a pair of tickets away to every Indians home game for the rest of the season to help boost attendance. I thought that was pretty awesome. So I copied his contest and started my own for Mariner home games. It’s nothing fancy but it makes me feel good to do this for people.

Those are the ground rules. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, you can direct them in comment form below or email me at WaynePeck@yahoo.com. I’m a pretty reasonable guy. So hit me up!

Despite all my problems I’ve been having with my camera during the last couple of games I’ve attended at Safeco Field, I’ve been doing pretty good at snagging baseballs and keeping my numbers up. Today, there would be a new wrench thrown into my plans. Dustin Ackley bobble head night. It’s awesome that I’m here because this is Ackley’s very first bobble head night- despite him not even being in the lineup- and because I plan to auction it off for my charity, Snagging Baseballs for Puppies. If all goes well, I should be able to raise at least $50 bucks. I plan to auction some more signed baseballs off like the ones I auctioned off two months ago to continue to raise money for my charity, and that was very successful. I think I was able to raise like, $100 bucks. Even with all that going on, I took on another charity project called The Help Holly campaign. So far I’ve raised $14 bucks for her and today’s game would be the final game (unless I get word from my Dad who is donating money per baseball that I snag that he’d like to continue donating when I visit Angels Stadium early next week) in which I’ll be snagging baseballs to help raise money for Holly. It’s been a tremendous ride so far.

These bobble head nights really only attract the bandwagon fans. The attendance nearly doubles when the teams give these things away. Most people only come out to get the bobble head and then they go home. It’s sorta weird, but hey, everyone has their thing they do at the ballpark, right?

When I got to the stadium roughly three hours early, this was the site at the ticket windows:

I found it a little bit odd that Safeco was nearly a ghost town at 1:56pm on a Ackley bobble head night. As I turned the corner and headed to the center field gates and as another hour passed:

The crowd started to thicken up a little bit. But not by much. The above photo was taken at approximiatly 2:56pm. One hour and forty-four minutes before the gates were to open.

When the gates finally did open, the crowd was much, much bigger. And like always, with large capacity games, my options to start snagging baseballs had drastically changed. Safeco security had barricaded off the ‘Pen immediately to my right so I didn’t waste any time trying to get through there after I snagged my Ackley bobble head. I simply bolted for the right field bleachers. And for the first three minutes, I had the entire place to myself. Everyone was so stuck on getting their bobble head- and me being the first one inside- gave me such a head start on snagging baseballs, it wasn’t even funny.

Ball number one:

Ball number two:

Ball number three:

After plucking that one out of the seat, I tried to hand it off to a young girl that was scampering down the stairs with her father. But she totally ignored me and continued on her way. Later, I was able to hand it to her and her Dad pleasantly thanked me.

Ball number four:

Ball number five:

Ball number six:

And here’s what happened to ball number six:

Ball number seven was quickly snagged out of another cupholder and immediately tossed to the nearest kid with a glove which turned out to be my 50th baseball snagged this season. How amazing is that? On 5-22-2012, I was questioning whether I’d hit that small milestone in the second month of baseball and I absolutely did! And then I ran into this guy:

That’s Andrew. What’s totally awesome about this guy is; while I was walking around aisle after aisle snagging a 2012 season high of seven baseballs, he says to me, “Hey, man. I think I read your blog.” And of course, I really didn’t put two and two together initially, so I kind of just gave a friendly hello and left it at that. Then I got to thinking. Hey, this guy is the first person to actually recognize me at the stadium and mention my blog! I stopped what I was doing, got the picture taken and then handed a baseball off to him. How sweet is that, though? It’s nice to be recognized for something I have a lot of passion for; Andrew even explained how much of an animal lover he is. So that made it equally awesome. How did he find my blog? Him and a friend are planning a summer trip to some baseball games and wanted to know the ins and outs of some of the stadiums. My blog surfaced in their quest for information and there you have it!

After finding seven baseballs and giving three away, the real fun was about to start. Have you ever heard of the Long Haul Bombers?

These guys were making an appearance at Safeco Field before the game and it seemed like nobody knew about it until the last-minute. One of my friends in the GirlsCorner asked me if I knew who the Long Haul Bombers were and of course I had no clue. She led me into the upper deck in left field and told me to stand as far back as I could. Well, I didn’t snag anything, but these guys smashed some unbelievably long home runs! It was something to see for sure!

Here’s a pictures I tried to take of one of the softballs banking off the Hit it Here Cafe…

The red circle is where the softball is. Its up near the Hit it Here Cafe. That’s how far those guys were hitting them! As far as left field was concerned, they were able to reach the upper deck, no problem! I came close to snagging a couple, but it was so crowded, the only way to get one was for it to be hit right to you.

I survived yet another large capacity crowd and another chaotic giveaway night. Although, I didn’t stay for the game, I still count this as a game attended and my streak continues to 115 games with at least one baseball. According to MyGameballs.com, I’m currently tied for fourth in longest active streaks among the Ballhawking community with snagging at least one baseball per game that I’ve attended. I’ve come close a couple of times where I didn’t think I’d catch a baseball but it always seems to work out in the end. The most memorable game I attended where I didn’t snag a baseball until like, the ninth inning, was when I visited Oakland last year. Jason Phillips actually hooked me up with my 100th baseball that game, If you’re interested, you can read all about it, here.

I’m snagging baseballs for puppies again this season for the Seattle Humane Society! If you want to check out my charity information, just click here!

Last season, with the help of all of you, we were able to raise over $250 dollars! This year I’d like to break $300!

When I attended yesterday’s game at Safeco Field, I had left my sim card to my camera at home. Not only did that prevent me from taking quality pictures, but it prevented me from taking a lot of quality pictures. I like to document my games and tell a unique story every time I attend a Major League game and with my crappy iPhone at my side, it was nearly impossible to get some good shots to add to my blog. With that being said, more camera woes continued today. No, I didn’t forget my sim card this time- I forgot to charge my camera battery. So when I took this photo after being stranded on the downtown city bus (more on that later) the little battery icon immediately started flashing orange. Or red. Or whatever color it was that indicated that my camera was about to die…

….Safeco Field is huge and when I took this picture, I was roughly a half of a mile out. When I initially set out for Safeco, I took the city bus towards Seattle. When I got about 1.4 miles from the stadium itself, the wheelchair access door/thingy on the bus started to act up. I figured the bus driver had everything under control but after twenty minutes went by and no results and the bus wasn’t moving, I knew I had to make a decision. I hopped off the bus and boarded a second which got me within a half of a mile of the stadium (where I took the above photo) and walked the rest of the way in. I was a little shocked that the mass transit system didn’t have a better back up plan other than to just make the passengers exit and fend for themselves. Luckily for me, I served ten years in the Army. Otherwise, it’s possible you would’ve found me curled up in a little ball outside a building crying for my mother.

When I entered Safeco Field at 4:40pm, I got my first baseball from Ichiro. I had a few people jockeying for a position to catch his throw but with my height, I made the easy one-handed catch:

You can see Ichiro in the above picture way out in right-field. And yes, he threw it about that far, too.

I hung out in the ‘Pen for an addition few moments before I wandered off towards the bullpens. When I saw this…

…it was glove-trick time. And an easy snag for my second ball on the night. I would’ve gone after the second baseball in the above picture but 1) it was too far out and 2) security was right behind me. Two on the day is still pretty good considering I have a streak to uphold. This game would mark my 114th consecutive game with at least one baseball. And according to MyGameballs.com, this was my 43rd ball snagged on the season. Could I really finish the month of May out with 50 baseballs under my belt? The chances of that happening were very high considering the Angels are coming to town for a four-game series.

When I went out into the outfield to try to snag another Josh Hamilton home run, I got Robbie Ross’s attention instead. Sort of by accident. I was the only one wearing Texas Rangers swag and when someone whistled to him for a baseball after he had fielded one, he turned to me and lobbed one my way. The only problem? He overthrew me. By a lot. I had to jump as high as I could and take a back-handed stab at the baseball only for it to bounce of the tip of my glove, roll around in the seats behind me and eventually some dude in Tampa Bay Rays gear scooped it up.

When BP was coming to a close, I wandered down to foul territory to see if I could get any autographs or maybe an extra toss-up from someone. The only problem was, Yu Darvish was signing autographs. Which gave all the other players enough time to scamper off the field while everyone was distracted with Darvish. Here’s a couple of pictures of the swarm:

It was a frenzy. People were trampling, cutting in line, getting multiple items signed by him, elbowing and pushing each other out-of-the-way. I, myself, didn’t try to really get his autograph. He came within a few feet of me and I figured I’d attempt to get a picture with him if the opportunity presented itself, but I wasn’t going to go out of my way to get it. Here’s another picture of the swarm:

It was absolutely nuts. All in good fun, though, right?

With these two baseballs that I snagged- and the five that I snagged yesterday, so far that’s helped raise $14 bucks for my friend, Holly. If you are just now reading my blogs, here’s the skinny on who Holly is and what happened to her. Click here for the Help Holly campaign.

The game started soon after all of that and I had great seats in centerfield. Clear aisles to my left and with Hamilton’s hot streak, I figured I’d have a decent shot at catching something. Unfortunately, nothing was really hit my way. But I did get to watch Hamilton make some fine catches in the outfield. I even got on tv!

Look at the top right corner. I’m in the black coat behind the girl with the glove.
The Texas Rangers took the game by a score of 3-1 with Mariners starter, Hector Noesi taking the loss. His record falls to 2-5 on the season whereas Matt Harrison’s record improves to 5-3 as he takes the win for the Rangers.

I’m snagging baseballs for puppies again this season for the Seattle Humane Society! If you want to check out my charity information, just click here!

Last season, with the help of all of you, we were able to raise over $250 dollars! This year I’d like to break $300!

Today started out kind of bad. I left my sim card to my camera at home so I had to use my iPhone to take pictures. I’m pretty sure the pictures are going to suck in the blog entry and that’s a shame because Yu Davish and Felix Hernandez were dueling tonight at the Safe.

From the time span of 4:40pm to 5:10pm, I didn’t snag a single baseball. And that was sort of disappointing because I’m doing a lot more this week than just snagging baseballs for my current charity, Snagging Baseballs for Puppies. I’m also snagging baseballs for what I’m calling my “Help Holly Campaign.” Here’s the run down of why I’m doing this and who exactly Holly is: Holly is a dog owned by a family who recently got hit by a car. The driver of that car decided that Holly is “just a dog” and fled the scene. Well, we have laws in this country that make it illegal to just bail from a scene after running over an animal. Sooooo the driver was eventually apprehended by authorities, I’m assuming, but the driver is still refusing to pay any medical costs. The family has a lawyer from what I read but needs help with the financial aspect of everything. This week at Safeco Field, the Mariners are hosting the Rangers and the Angels. I pledged one dollar per every baseball that I snag to help Holly out. My Dad also jumped on board and matched my dollar which means every baseball I catch is worth two bucks. Today was game one of my Help Holly campaign.

Here’s how things started:

At approximately 5:12pm, that’s how many baseballs I had snagged already. It gets better. While I was standing near the left field fair pole, I caught a glimpse of another white little orb sitting against the seat back in an aisle. I would’ve taken a picture, but with all the people filing into the lower seating bowl, I didn’t want to lose my chance on snagging it. I quickly ran over and put my foot on the ball so I could get my iPhone ready for the photo…

…I told you these photos were going to miserable. Third ball snagged and then I dug into a nice spot near the left field fair pole. As soon as I did, Ichiro sliced one directly my way. I initially moved to my right thinking I’d have to come out of the short row to drop down one or two but then I realized the ball had no depth at all. It was just a high arching, lazy fly ball that was sinking fast. I held my ground, leaned into it and made the one-handed catch:

OHHH, WHAAAATT!! You know the funny thing about this baseball? As soon as I caught it, I turned around to the cute couple behind me and tried to hand it off. Luckily for me, the girlfriend declined and I left it at that. When I was toying with it in my glove, I noticed a large blue marking which turned out to the be the 50th Dodger anniversary stamp! Whoooaa! I nearly gave away a Dodger ball and probably wouldn’t have realized it! And yes, I’m still going to Dodger Stadium this year if time and money permits. Even though I don’t want to. I’ve heard so many crazy rules and stories about that place, I’m actually kind of nervous to visit.

After snagging my fourth baseball on the day, I figured I’d try to break my season record of five this game. I headed out to centerfield when the Rangers came out for batting practice. I had one thing on my mind and that was to catch a Josh Hamilton BP home run ball. When I got there, this was my view to my left:

I pretty much had the place to myself. Centerfield filled up pretty fast after Hamilton started crushing long balls into the seats, though. Before he left for the cage, he signed a few autographs and I just had to heckle him a little bit.

“Hey, Josh! What the heck are the feeding you in that Ranger clubhouse, man?!” I yelled after him.

He caught another fly ball off the fungo bat and then looked back at me with a smirk. If that’s the only reaction I could get out of Hamilton, I’ll take it!

When Hamilton got into the cage, it wasn’t long before he started dropping bombs. Two or three came my way, but it was starting to get a little crowded, I couldn’t make a decent play on any of them. Eventually, he lofted a high fly ball directly at me and my only competition was a young ten-year old to my right. The ball carried just enough where he’d probably had missed it so I ended up making the catch. When I offered the baseball to him, he shrugged at me and told me he had already snagged three others. I smiled and thanked him for his honesty and turned around to find another deserving fan. I asked the next youngster if he had any baseballs and he shook his head at me.

“There you go, kid!” I said as I flipped him the ball. Yup, I had just gave away my Josh Hamilton ball. So what? I was totally fine with it and was going to anyway.

As batting practice came to a close, I sat down in the ‘Pen area and wolfed down a slice of pizza and a Mariner dog from the burger joint and then found my seat out in left field for the game.

With Yu Darvish and Felix on the mound, I figured this would be one of those games where it’s nearly impossible to stay awake but mixed with a few dazzling plays at short stop or a diving catch from the center fielder. None of that really happened. Instead, Darvish was literally blown out by the 4th inning. He had thrown 86 pitches to Felix’s 40-some and it was 5-0 by the start of the 5th inning! Mark Lowe eventually took over for Darvish in the Mariners 5th and Seattle was able to tack on another run in the 7th and hang on for the win after Mitch Moreland smacked a bomb to right, centerfield.

6-1 was your final score! Mariners win!

I’m snagging baseballs for puppies again this season for the Seattle Humane Society! If you want to check out my charity information, just click here!

Last season, with the help of all of you, we were able to raise over $250 dollars! This year I’d like to break $300!

A week or so ago, I was on Facebook when someone posted a story about a dog named Holly that had recently been hit by a car. The driver of the vehicle fled the scene afterwards, and fortunately was later apprehended by authorities. So far, the driver hasn’t claimed any responsibility and Holly has been making a slow recovery. The driver claimed that Holly is “just a dog” and therefore shouldn’t have to pay any of her medical bills. This makes me sad and further causes me to lose faith in humanity as a whole.

The family of Holly is asking the general public to help out with legal fees and medical costs to help Holly make a full recovery. My heart breaks when I read stories like these and it only encourages me to continue doing what I do with my charity efforts.

I’m asking you, friends and family members, to help me help Holly. Even if it’s just one dollar. Or if you have extra dog toys, blankets or food lying around that you could send to her. If you have anything to donate, you can donate it right here.

In addition to that, the Mariners kick off two series at home before they go on the road again. They play the Texas Rangers and the Anaheim Angels and I’ll be attending five games out of the total seven that they’ll be playing. For every baseball that I snag during that home stand, I’ll donate one dollar per towards helping Holly with her medical bills and legal fees. It’s the least I can do and hopefully it makes up for the irresponsibility of some people in this world.

Categories

Collection of Baseball

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.